The Unbearable Lightness of Being 2d to Pataki

By ELISABETH BUMILLER

Published: June 4, 1996

As the battle between Gov. George E. Pataki and Lieut. Gov. Elizabeth McCaughey Ross broke into widespread public view, Ms. McCaughey Ross accused the Pataki administration yesterday of waging an anonymous campaign to discredit her through "petty political persecution."

"This is the essence of McCarthyism," Ms. McCaughey Ross said in an interview in her Manhattan office. "Go back and look at what Joe McCarthy did. It's exactly the same."

Though the Lieutenant Governor would not characterize the events as an attempt to drive her from office, she repeatedly said she planned to remain in her job. "I certainly have no intention of quitting," she said.

In an hour-and-a-half-long interview that she requested, Ms. McCaughey Ross described herself as the victim of a conspiracy that was dangerous to her, caused her extreme distress and set her up for public embarrassment. When the Pataki administration withdrew her security protection for six weeks this spring, she said officials were saying publicly that Ms. McCaughey Ross was getting all the protection she needed. At times, she said, she wasforced to take a taxi to official events.

"This is preposterous and wrong," said the Governor's spokeswoman, Zenia Mucha. "I think she's overreacting. She has not made any of her views known to us personally, and instead has chosen to air them out in the press."

Ms. McCaughey Ross has become increasingly isolated within her own party -- over the weekend the State Republican Chairman openly attacked her -- but yesterday was the first time she has spoken out at length in her own defense. After the interview, Ms. McCaughey Ross spent most of yesterday talking to more than a dozen television, radio and print reporters.

In one of her most unusual statements, Ms. McCaughey Ross said that on Jan. 11, when a state trooper was driving her to Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani's annual address to the City Council, she overheard a phone call made to the trooper in which the caller said, "Don't make it there on time." Ms. McCaughey Ross said the trooper confirmed the nature of the call to her. Ms. McCaughey Ross said the trooper had been instructed to pretend he had car trouble and ask the Lieutenant Governor to get to City Hall on her own. Ms. McCaughey Ross said he felt sorry for her and chauffeured her to City Hall anyway, but told her to "tell them you took a taxi."

Ms. McCaughey Ross said she did not know who gave the instructions to the trooper, but she said she assumed they came from either "an executive office" or the New York State Police command center.

"On its face, that seems absolutely ridiculous," Ms. Mucha said. "I believe the feeding frenzy has caused some unnecessary paranoia." In the last few days, Ms. McCaughey Ross has learned the identity of at least one critic. In an interview over the weekend with The Daily News, the State Republican Chairman, William D. Powers, dismissed her as a marginal and disloyal political player. "Where's Betsy?" he said. "Right now she's on the bench. Betsy's got problems."

Then yesterday, The New York Post said G.O.P. leaders had decided not to invite her to the Republican Convention in San Diego in August as part of the New York delegation.

In a statement yesterday afternoon, Mr. Powers said no decisions had been made on the 18 at-large convention delegates. Those spots are usually reserved as a perquisite for senior officials and celebrities. But he said in his statement that Ms. McCaughey Ross "has not asked to be considered for an at-large spot, nor has she asked to attend the state committee meeting."

"She has made no effort to communicate with the committee at all," he said. He added that "it is my understanding that she has been actively meeting with Democratic consultants."

Mr. Powers was presumably referring to the political consultant David Garth, a longtime friend of Ms. McCaughey Ross's husband, Wilbur Ross, a multimillionaire bankruptcy specialist and a Democrat. Ms. McCaughey Ross said yesterday that Mr. Garth was a close friend, but that she had not hired him as a consultant. Mr. Garth ran the campaigns of Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, a Democrat, and Mayor Giuliani, a Republican.

Republican leaders and Pataki administration officials have been angry for months with Ms. McCaughey Ross over policy disagreements, as well as what they say is her relentless self-promotion.

Ms. McCaughey Ross and the Governor disagree on abortion policy: she says she does not favor restricting abortions as much as Mr. Pataki does. She called for easing of the ballot access rules to permit more candidates in the New York primary, which Mr. Pataki and Senator Alfonse M. D'Amato opposed. Pataki aides also said privately she wants to run against Senator D'Amato, who is Mr. Pataki's political patron. Ms. McCaughey Ross said yesterday she had no such plans.

Perhaps Ms. McCaughey Ross's strangest offense, at least in the eyes of the Pataki administration, was her decision to remain standing throughout the Governor's entire speech to the Legislature in January. Yesterday, Ms. McCaughey Ross tried to explain the events leading up to what she called a "silly, trivial mistake."